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note-boom · 2 years

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All right. I'm bored and feel like doing this here, so I'm gonna rate some of the ability names (English version, at least) for fun/no absolute reason

(For the record, as of the day writing this post, I've only read snatches of the manga, none of the LNs, and have just watched the anime)

Let's GOOOO

Armed Detective Agency

All Men Are Equal (Fukuzawa) - 7/10 good, fits the ability, but it doesn't blow me away. Honestly makes me think of the American Declaration of Independence and I feel slightly bad for that

Thou Shalt Not Die (Yosano) - 9/10 seriously cool. I love that it's phrased like a command...it's both desperation and a demand i love it.

Super/Ultra Deduction (Ranpo) - 4/10 sorry Ranpo but this sounds like an adaptation of superstrength or super smarts for deduction. IDK maybe Fukuzawa made it up on the spot for Ranpo?

No Longer Human (Dazai) - 8/10 very fitting...captures Dazai's personality and has fun implications about abilities being part of someone's humanity even though that's probably not intended. Just an author work's ref but still a cool name anyway

Doppo/The Matchless Poet (Kunikida) - 8/10 but ONLY for the Matchless Poet (or Lone Poet) because it's so Kunikida and really conjures the image of that whole paragon archetype. Doppo Poet? Really english dub??

Light Snow (Tanizaki) - 6/10 but may get higher depending on tanizaki's arc. Such an inoffensive ability name, cute, understates what a terrifying ability it could be...a bit like the boy himself. Maybe 7 or 8 out of 10, hmm...

Beast Beneath the Moonlight/Byakko (Atsushi) - 6/10 sorry my boy, but its such a literal name (like Yosano's but descriptive instead of imperative). I'm not sure where Byakko comes from but you should have stuck with that as it's a solid 10/10 name.

Undefeated by the Rain (Kenji) - 8/10 i love the image it draws. Standing strong even though the rain is pouring WHILE it's pouring. Love you, Kenji

Demon Snow (Kyouka) - 7/10 tbh it doesnt make too much sense if you think about it too hard but it sure is a cool name regardless. And it's fun to say so my bias is leaking....

Port Mafia

Falling Camellia (Hirotsu) - 9/10 old man your ability name is PRETTY for an ability that's literally just pushing. But the words kinda fit the vibe and make the ability sound cool

Vita Sexualis (Mori) - 5/10 this is latin for sex power and im sure if you've read my tags I have petty beef against sex and romance (it's mostly as a joke but I'm still gonna let it color all my opinions). Sorry Elise...you're cool but the ability name is honestly sus. However, points for the language consistency (dead languages make anything sound cool)

Golden Demon (Kouyou) - 6/10 sorry Kouyou, but like Atsushi's, it's too literal and descriptive. But at least it sticks to the original title's name

Lemonade/Lemon Bomb (Kajii) - ???/10 i honestly dont know what i feel about this one. Kajii is the reason I look at the whole "abilities are an expression of your soul" thing with utter bemusement. I do LOVE his ability cause it's so unnecessarily random but the name? Idk...maybe 5/10? References the title but also feels slightly too literal?

For the Tainted Sorrow (Chuuya) - 10/10 im sorry but the way it sounds in English appeals to me personally. It's both the title and starring line of IRL Nakahara's poem and I honestly love that so much. Such gravity in those lines (wait....??)

Rashoumon (Akutagawa) - 10/10 it just gets points for its name staying the same in all languages. See, Atsushi? This is what you could have had with Byakko

Midwinter Memento (Tachihara) - 8/10 could be higher honestly because I love the alliteration and the phrase just has nice vibes. Don't know how well it fits the metalbending but it sure fits Tachihara and the way the past haunts him ya know? It makes me wonder if his ability is passed down or gets stronger with remembered trauma or whatever?

Dogra Magra (Q) - 9/10 no clue what this means and google isn't helping. But again with the language consistency...and it also just sounds cool and rhyme-y and slightly horrory. Its the vibes

Flawless (Odasaku) - 8/10 i like the name and all the things it connotes. You have to get real philosophical to parse the connection between his ability and its name, though. But that's why I love it

The Madness of the Jewel King (Ace) - 6/10 a cool name but the existence of Ace confuses me. Wiki says something about Alan Bennet or a character from Dostoy. Im here wondering why another foreign (it seems) dude is working so high up in the PM. Mori and his western loving tendencies, i guess? Anyway. The name also kinda feels more descriptive, but it gets points for drama

#well this was fun #im also kinda curious about the fandom's opinion on these names #i mean ive seen posts here and there but...#well anyway...i may do some of the other groups later for fun again #also they totally missed out on telling us how ability names come to be with atsushi #like child...how did you know it was called beast beneath the moonlight or byakko?#kudos i guess to the manga having a literal reason for ability names too that ties with the theme tho?#like words and names have power or some other nonsense....#anyway apologies for some of the lower ratings....but im sticking to it #bsd #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd musings #humor #sort of?#armed detective agency #port mafia #too lazy to tag all the characters #spitting nonsense

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saaraofthesand · 8 months

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Vomit About Abilities and Their Users

These are just random thoughts I’m having on a Sunday night. It’s not really like a good essay with sources cited or anything.

Part 1: Chuuya, Mori, and Atsushi

Stormbringer confirms something important, which is that all abilities and manifestations of those abilities are part of the characters.

I’m glad this is basically explicitly stated in that LN because there are a few characters (and I’m using 3 in this section) whose abilities people tend to treat as separate beings.

A. Chuuya

Before Stormbringer (and alas, even after) a lot of people thought that Arahabaki and Chuuya were separate entities with Chuuya forced to host a being called Arahabaki because his ability was compatible with it. But Stormbringer shows us that Corruption (Arahabaki) is just an extension of Upon the Tainted Sorrow. One that Chuuya has little to no control over, but an extension nonetheless. It isn’t a separate being. It’s just as much a part of Chuuya as anything else.

B. Mori

The Chuuya-Corruption thing is why the way the fandom often treats Elise was so confusing to me. Because Elise isn’t separate from Mori. She isn’t her own person. She IS Mori, and I mean that very literally. Yes, he dresses her up and gives her what appears to be her own personality, but she’s still very much an extension of Mori himself. And for a while (and this essay finally gave me evidence), I’ve suspected that she doesn’t represent what Mori wants to have but instead what Mori wants to be.

C. Atsushi

So, Byakko is treated as separate from Atsushi to a lesser extent, but I’ve still seen it done so I wanted to mention it. The thing is, I think Dead Apple may have confused a few people. I mean, it confused all of us but here I’m specifically referring to Beast Beneath The Moonlight.

Dead Apple wasn’t about Atsushi accepting his ability i.e. Byakko. It was about Atsushi accepting himself, his trauma, and his ability as a part of himself and that trauma. Byakko is a very literal defense mechanism that Atsushi manifested to protect himself from physical danger, and Dead Apple is about him coming to understand that.

Essentially it boils down to this: abilities are part of the characters and they can’t (and shouldn’t) be treated as separate because they tell us something about those characters.

Part 2: Abilities, Trauma, and Conditions

Okay, so it’s well established that abilities are linked to characters’ trauma, and in the same way, I think the conditions surrounding those abilities are also related to their trauma.

A. Yosano

I never see anyone talk about this, but Yosano’s backstory shows us that the conditions around her ability didn’t always exist.

Thou Shalt Not Die as first introduced to us only works if the person being treated is close to death. But in her backstory, the first time we see Yosano use her ability, not all of her patients have fatal injuries. When Yosano stops wanting to treat the soldiers because they should be allowed to die or recover naturally, Mori forces her hand by giving them fatal injuries.

In my opinion, that basically tells us that new trauma can change how someone’s ability operates.

B. Kyouka

Kyouka is really interesting because her ability itself is not a result of her trauma since her mother gave it to her. However, the conditions of her ability may be the result of that trauma.

The way Demon Snow operates before Kyouka is under All Men Are Created Equal is almost reminiscent of dissociation.

Kyouka has separated herself from Demon Snow to the point that it follows orders on auto-pilot whenever someone calls Kyouka’s phone. At the beginning, she’s just a conduit for her own ability.

But like with Yosano’s conditions, the condition of Kyouka’s phone hasn’t always been necessary. In the scene where Kyouka’s parents die, her mother doesn’t communicate via phone. She just tells Demon Snow what to do as she passes it to Kyouka.

Unlike with Tsujimura’s mother (we’re getting there), the instructions left for Demon Snow by Kyouka’s mother (i.e. “Protect my daughter”) don’t seem to have specifically influenced Demon Snow’s behavior, except for when Demon Snow killed Kyouka’s mother. Otherwise, Demon Snow can still be easily used by others on people who Kyouka doesn’t need to be protected from.

Had the transfer not been traumatic for Kyouka, the conditions likely wouldn’t apply. She would have full control over Demon Snow on her own.

C. Tsujimura

Basically what I said with Kyouka, except where Kyouka’s mother’s instructions don’t seem to have specifically influenced Demon Snow, Tsujimura’s mother’s did. Her instructions were, "Kill anyone who my daughter Mizuki Tsujimura tries to kill right before she kills them," which is a LOT more specific and essentially turns Yesterday’s Shadow Tag into an ability that cannot be triggered at will.

And I still have a lot of questions about YST, but I’m putting them aside because…

D. Q

Okay, we’re getting into the territory of conjecture now. And you can take all of this theorizing with a grain of salt. I just have so many thoughts about Q.

You know how Q’s ability will only work on people that injure them? Yeah, I’ve always had questions about that condition. Was it always a condition of their ability? Or did it come about after Q was brought to the Port Mafia?

Because Q hates Dazai, and has zero control of their ability once it’s activated. We have canonical evidence that Dazai resorted to abuse when training subordinates while he was in the mafia, and No Longer Human is the only thing that can stop Dogra Magra. Q cannot terminate their own ability. Something, something, it’s almost like Q was conditioned to be that way.

Say, Q didn’t want to use their ability or was resistant Dazai’s methods of bringing that ability out. It’s possible that Dazai started resorting to physical abuse as a trigger, and then would use No Longer Human when they didn’t need Dogra Magra anymore. But that came back to bite him because physical abuse became the only way to activate Dogra Magra and No Longer Human became the only way to stop it.

Again, this is all just theory. It could be nothing. But I wanted to throw it into the ether.

Essentially, abilities and/or their conditions are all related to a character’s trauma. Which also makes me think it’s possible that characters could’ve manifested entirely different abilities (or no abilities) if their trauma or circumstances had been different.

And that makes me wonder if the need for conditions could be healed with like therapy or something.

Part 3: Abilities Are Not Genetic

So, I know I may make some OC people upset, but yeah… abilities aren’t genetically inherited traits, or I should say, we have no evidence to suggest they are. We actually have more evidence to suggest they aren’t genetic in any way.

First, with our sibling pairs: the Akutagawas and the Tanizakis (Ik there are theories that Naomi isn’t real etc etc and while I find them intriguing, we’re gonna ignore them for this discussion). If abilities were inherited traits, then we’d likely see them in both siblings, but we don’t. Now, we could argue that the gene is recessive or something (I haven’t done Punnett squares since I was in ninth grade shut up). But thematically, genetic abilities don’t make that much sense anyway for a story like BSD, so I’m not going to go into possible biological explanations, Kay?

Our biggest evidence that abilities aren’t inherited is actually found in the characters of Tsujimura and Kyouka. I’m going to look at Kyouka specifically.

Kyouka was the child of an ability user. Yet, she wasn’t born without any kind of ability and it doesn’t seem like she would ever have manifested one of she hadn’t inherited her mother’s.

As I already mentioned, abilities are essentially manifestations of characters’ trauma, and as such, they’re more likely to be a phenomena that is possible in the universe of Bungo Stray Dogs, and not traits the characters are born with. Especially considering how different each person’s ability is. You aren’t born with your trauma, so you aren’t born with your ability.

#bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd #bsd chuuya #bsd mori #bsd atsushi #bsd yosano #mori ougai #chuuya nakahara #atsushi nakajima #akiko yosano #kyouka izumi #mizuki tsujimura

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uneducated-author · 11 months

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Hi! Your recent post about gods existing in BSD caught my attention and I felt sending this as an ask would work best for conciseness. In response to your tags, Arahabaki is actually just a singularity and not a god. [https://www.tumblr.com/originalaccountname/711614312754692096/sorry-to-bother-you-but-ive-been-getting-into-bsd?source=share] [https://www.tumblr.com/originalartblog/713410888979316736?source=share]

Also, as for other gods, I'm of the belief that Lovecraft is a god (y'know like eldritch gods) that's just able to take a human form. This is supported in that Dazai's ability doesn't nullify Lovecraft's because it isn't an ability, it's just him. This is also further supported by another theory but since there's the possibility it doesn't turn out to be the case, I won't mention it— but I will say that there is another person with god-like origins that Dazai has made contact with that his ability didn't nullify.

Lastly, there is Atsushi whose ability may be Baiho (or at least similar), the White Tiger God in Chinese mythology (called Byakko in Japan). The White Tiger that is Atsushi's ability has been repeatedly shown to be of its own sapience which is notably different from abilities like Kyouka's Demon Snow and more along the lines of Twain's Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn. (Like the times he talks to and reconciles with the Tiger)

With the movie Dead Apple, Atsushi's ability is shown to be very special and there was also the major plot point of what occurs during season two where it was explicitly stated that Atsushi's ability specifically was the key to finding the book. Heck, him being hunted by the Port Mafia in season one was because of the Guild trying to get their hands on him.

To add, his ability working phenomenally in tandem with Akutagawa's is a potential allusion to Byakko's mythology. I'll be quoting it's wikipedia for this. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Tiger_(mythology)

“As with the other three Symbols, there are seven astrological "Mansions" (positions of the Moon) within the White Tiger.” Beast Beneath the Moonlight

“In Chinese art, the white tiger often appears with the dragon. The white tiger symbolizes power and army.” Akutagawa is that dragon, which is obvious in the meaning behind his surname Ryuunosuke. The first character in his name 龍 (ryuu) means dragon because the real life author was born in the year of the dragon during the month of the dragon and the hour he was believed to be born was the hour of the dragon. His name, Ryuunosuke, literally translates to "son of the dragon". [http://yabai.com/p/4517] Whether Atsushi is like, Byakko incarnate or it's just his ability or something else, or even he straight up isn't actually a god— we don't have anything that confirms or denies it yet. Also I am sorry for rambling in your ask box, the topic of gods in BSD is something I'm rather passionate about.

First of all, this is sp incredibly interesting and I am fascinating at how my semi serious post has now given way to an actual craving for Lore (I'm trying to hunt down an edition of 15).

The whole Lovecraft thing definitely confused me and doubly so because I definitely thought (hoped) that since he's immune to Dazai he would play a larger role in the plot. I am curious though, as to whether Dazai coming into contact with Lovecraft would have any impact on his physical abilities, like limiting his speed or agility. (I suppose I am thinking a little of BNHA here. Eraserhead can't erase mutant quirks, but presumably could erase like, effects of a mutant quirk e.g: spitting acid or so) But he spends most of the fight bragging about Chuuya to Steinbeck so we don't really get to see how the two abilities would interact. It's interesting especially because Dazai CAN nullify Chuuya in corruption and Atsushi in his fully tiger state (which is a physical transformation) but has ZERO affect on Lovecraft's tentacle form.

(I'm desperately trying to think of the 'god like origin' character because I can't think of other BSD characters that Dazai's ability didn't affect... is it like Sigma or something, because he was created from the book?)

I was aware of Atsushi as Byakko, though I genuinely interpreted the 'consciousness' of the ability as moreso Atsushi's introspection, a visual way to show his personal healing and acceptance, though it's really interesting to know I was wrong! When I have time I'll have to rewatch those scenes with a fresh perspective. I was super into the Shinto belief as a kid, and it was actually how my friend persuaded me to get into BSD, and I'm loving the series so far. However, I'm honestly more familiar with the Qinglong and Baihu as the dragon of the East and tiger of the West.

(I had a very funny moment watching Dead Apple where I was insistent to my friend that 'Atsushi will definitely have to match off against the dragon, there's a lot of mythological basis' only to be proven completely wrong, though with the amazing Chuuya fight scene I couldn't be disappointed)

But I had completely missed the connection between Akutagawa and the dragon! That definitely adds a really interesting level to the dynamic between the two as members opposing forces with the matched goal.

Thank you so so so much for explaining this all in such an interesting way, it really made my day! I super appreciated it!

#bungou stray dogs #bsd akutagawa #bsd atsushi #bsd dazai #bsd chuuya #bsd lovecraft

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